Gift curation platform PropShop24 raises first funding round

Mumbai-based gift curation platform PropShop24 has raised $500,000 (around Rs 3.5 crore) in its first investment round from undisclosed investors, a company statement said.

The startup will use the funds for marketing, to add new categories like jewellery and kids, build inventory, boost its capacity to process larger order volumes and streamline operations to facilitate faster delivery, co-founder Amtosh Singh said in the statement.

“We are also very excited about the launch of our private label Far Left which will feature an on-trend curation of high street eyewear,” Singh added.

The company said that it will also offer shopping experiences at popular music festivals in India like NH7 in Pune and will expand its product catalogue on its website.

PropShop24, registered as Far Left Retail Pvt. Ltd, was founded in 2012 by college friends-turned-business partners Singh and Utsav Vohra. It offers ‘quirky gifting options’ across categories like home décor, stationery, fashion, gadgets, beauty and food.

Prior to co-founding the startup, Singh was managing the digital activity of properties like Lakme Fashion Week, IPL and Aircel Chennai Open.

A graduate in finance and economics from RIT New York, Vohra previously founded Mint Graphics, a production company specialising in labels and hand tags for fashion brands.

The company claimed that it has already reported a year-on-year growth of 360% in the financial year 2016-17 and 170% in 2017-18. It has projected a revenue surge of 35% in 2018-19.

Deals in the space

A number of players in the online gifting space have secured venture investment in the past few months.

In May this year, US-based digital gifting platform Swych Inc. had acquired Mumbai-based GCI Network Pvt. Ltd, the company behind the GiftCardsIndia.in website, to expand operations in the country.

In December last year, Uttar Pradesh-based online gifting company IGP.com has raised an undisclosed sum in its pre-Series A round from funding and incubation platform Venture Catalysts. 

In March last year, Easter Egg, a blockchain-enabled gifting platform, had raised $400,000 in its first round of funding from Singapore-based early-stage investment firm Wealthy Ideas.